


Serving Miss Authority

by poisns



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Babysitting, Canon Divergence - Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Gen, Post-Avengers: Endgame (Movie), morgan gives bucky tension headaches, tony can't unlock a door
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-23
Updated: 2020-05-23
Packaged: 2021-03-03 05:09:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,203
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24339415
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/poisns/pseuds/poisns
Summary: Bucky felt like crying.“Is that you, Miss Stark?”“...Yeah.”“What’s the problem? Why are you up again?”“Why do you ask so many questions?”She was definitely her father’s daughter.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes & Morgan Stark (Marvel Cinematic Universe), James "Bucky" Barnes & Tony Stark, Tony Stark & Everyone
Kudos: 42





	Serving Miss Authority

**Author's Note:**

> hey!! had this one sat in my docs for like 3 months because i get too self-conscious of my work to post it straight after its finished lol. anyway this is very cute and also a bit funny. my fav part is any time sam wilson speaks. also i love writing text messages between these characters so pls do let me know in a comment if i should hop onto that group chat fic train. ENJOY!!

Bucky felt like crying.

“Is that you, Miss Stark?”

“...Yeah.”

“What’s the problem? Why are you up again?”

“Why do you ask so many questions?”

She was definitely her father’s daughter.

“Hey,” Bucky warned without malice, “none of that.” When he looked up towards the staircase, Morgan’s face peered down at him. She had her hands folded into her lap like she was waiting so very patiently for Bucky to make a fuss over how many times she had gotten out of her bed that evening.

She obviously just wasn’t very tired at all.

With Tony, Pepper, Happy and a small handful of the Avengers that stuck around the city attending a private fundraising event in Manhattan, as well as Peter swinging around Queens like the non-stop-crime-fighter he was, a free adult (or responsible teenager) became difficult to source.

So in the end, there wasn’t anyone around to babysit the kid. Or, rather than babysitting, because she really didn’t approve of that word, those who truly knew the young Stark would put it as ‘serving’. 

He supposed he should have been offended or hurt that he hadn’t been considered as a first option, but when he _really_ thought about it, running around after Morgan usually had more drawbacks than benefits, so he could only be thankful that he wasn’t regarded as a first resort candidate.

Yes, Bucky felt as if every moment spent with Morgan was a government experiment to test whether he could withhold the most tedious of situations and not lose his sense of humour, but at the same time, he cherished every moment with her like he had been chosen by God himself to keep her safe. 

God himself being Tony Stark.

The man trusted Bucky with his life. No one even dared to question it, because if Tony was happy, then everyone was happy, and that’s exactly how it was supposed to be.

The first time Tony had asked Bucky to watch the kid, he had sent a text that read: 

**I don’t trust my kid on her own around electrical appliances. Hope u are ok with telling her she can’t microwave our tupperware. B back at 12:30??**

He was slightly put off by the lack of further instructions on how to manage someone so young and sent one back that said: 

**yes, but first tell me about every routine she has so she doesn’t ridicule me if I change her batteries before bath time.**

The rules didn’t consist of much, and it made a lot of sense. Morgan Stark was the most unstoppable force there was. She was fiery and witty and would straight-up tell someone the truth if it was about something that stuck out. Alternatively, she could hold the title of _‘youngest but best liar’_ if there was such a competition, and Pepper had made Bucky very aware of that. 

He had his hands full, but it was a manageable kind of full. As long as he didn’t humour her when she ripped into him in her own way or didn’t give her juice pops before bed, all was well, and everything would run like clockwork.

This night in particular though, she had tested every single boundary there could’ve been, and Bucky could now feel every blood cell run through the veins in his head. She wasn’t being disrespectful, nor was she misbehaving, but something about hearing her pad down across the hardwood flooring in the upstairs hallway every half an hour was giving Bucky a tension headache. 

First, it had been because she needed the bathroom. _Okay,_ he said, _I’ll take you,_ he said. The second time, it was because she was too hot. Bucky opened her window and changed her comforter to a thinner fleece blanket from her closet. The third time might’ve been his fault, but he had promised not to speak so loudly on the phone afterwards. The fourth, and what Bucky thought was the final time, was because she wanted Bucky to read something to her. She gave him one of Peter’s chemistry textbooks and he read her an entire page about titrations before her eyes were closed and she was breathing softly, allegedly asleep. 

It wasn’t the final time, though. 

This time, he didn’t get up. He just stared at her as she sat at the top of the stairs, one sock half-hanging off of her foot. 

“I think you know why I’m sat here.” 

That made Bucky snort. He drew in a long breath, dragged his right hand down his face, let the breath out and looked back up at her. “Yeah, Morgs, I do.”

“You have the same look on your face that Mommy does when I say _shit_.”

“Okay, well how about you don’t say _shit_ and I won’t have to look at you like this, how does that sound?”

“It sounds like I don’t just have to say _shit_ for you to make that face.”

Bucky held a hand up in Morgan’s direction. “Right, you’ve said that word twice now. I think I’m gonna have to tell your Mom.”

“You said it too.” 

He could see the mischievous twinkle in her eyes despite her face being stone-cold serious. He felt as if the more he said _shit,_ the more she said _shit_ , so he decided to keep the word out of his mouth altogether.

“Just come here,” he said, waving her down. She hummed to herself as she slid down the stairs on her behind, and Bucky grinned. “I have a feeling that no matter how many times I put you back in that bed, you won’t end up sleeping.”

Morgan had made it to the couch, and she climbed into the space beside Bucky, grunting softly as she made herself comfortable. “Yeah, that’s very true.”

“Why is it true?”

Morgan pondered for a moment, then shook her head that was now resting on his thigh.

“Morgan Stark, princess of talking, not saying a word? Something must be wrong,” Bucky said in disbelief, watching her as she reached up to fiddle with his hair. She frowned and made eye contact with him, her eyebrows furrowed fiercely.

“ _Queen_ of talking, actually.”

“Right, sorry, _Queen_ of talking.”

He considered sending Tony a message. Something along the lines of, _‘hey. your kid has gotten out her bed 5 times now and I can feel the life start to drain from me. suggestions?’_

But, he didn’t want Tony to start flapping. He would be home in sixteen minutes flat, fundraiser be damned. However, Bucky supposed that he wanted to feel like he had won when, or _if,_ she got to sleep for longer than half an hour. 

“Your thoughts are very loud, Buckeroo,” Morgan murmured. She had stopped playing with the strand of hair and now had her hands tucked under her head. She was looking up at him with her big brown doe-eyes, _Tony’s eyes,_ and he felt absolutely trapped within the look she was giving him.

“So are yours, Sweet-pea. What’s up?”

She sighed and rolled over so her face was pressing into the fabric of Bucky’s sweatpants. She let out a string of incoherent mumbles, and once she quietened down, she turned back around to glance at him.

He gave her his best deadpan look, and she whined.

“I don’t wanna tell. I’ll sound like a big baby.”

“Which you aren’t,” Bucky added, just to lift her spirits. It didn’t seem to work, though, and she whined again.

“Buckeroo… _Roo-roo…"_

“Stop avoiding my question, Maguna.”

She huffed. It was a mighty sound for someone so little, so Bucky took it that she was carrying a lot of emotional baggage and petted her hair down.

“Well,” she started, blinking heavily, no doubt at the sensation of Bucky’s fingers now drawing soft little circles onto the side of her face, “I don’t like sleeping on my own much.”

Bucky pursed his lips, frowning slightly. “Is that why you’ve spent more time getting out of your bed than you have laying in it tonight?”

Morgan nodded, still dazed by Bucky’s touch.

“You could have told me that at the start, Bug. Heck, if I’d known you were up there feelin’ all lonely I would’ve been up there in a flash. You know that.”

“I know,” she whined and covered her face with her tiny hands, “I told you I didn’t wanna sound like a big baby.”

Bucky’s heart clenched at that. He knew that there weren’t many young kids that could actually sleep on their own without someone or something in the room with them. 

When his sister was four, she would stand at the bottom of his bed and tug on his socks until he woke up. Every single time, no matter how much he didn’t want to, he knelt beside her bed and stroked her hair until she fell back asleep. His brotherly instincts stuck around all that time, he figured.

So if the only way to get Morgan back to sleep was to cram himself into her bed so she didn’t feel so alone, so be it. 

“You don’t sound like a big baby. Hey,” he leant down so he could speak into her ear, “I don’t like sleeping alone sometimes.” It wasn’t a secret _at_ _all_. In fact, Bucky was almost certain that every single person that he had shared a room with or stayed in the same building as knew about how restlessly he slept. Countless times on long missions did Sam either send him a message saying _‘Bro wtf’,_ or poked his head into Bucky’s room with a hybrid expression made up of annoyance and worry. 

So really, Morgan wasn’t alone at all.

“You’re not just saying that to make me feel better, are you?” She asked, lips pressed into a frown. Bucky shook his head.

“No way. You can ask your Uncle Steve.”

“Oh,” she said, “does he have bad dreams too?” She missed the point of what Bucky was trying to tell her, but he nodded and answered her question.

“Sometimes.”

“Is that why Daddy said that you make a lot of commotion when you’re in the same room at night?”

Bucky went still. _Dear God._

“Your Dad told you that?” _He used the word ‘commotion’?_

“No, but I have a very good sense of hearing.”

“Eavesdropping, then.”

“You didn’t answer my question.” Morgan sat up and glared at Bucky.

“God…” he muttered, “yes, that is exactly why Uncle Steve and I make a commotion when we’re in the same room at night, now would you like me to sleep in your bed tonight?” Much to his relief, the kid didn’t even further question him on what he was doing with Steve at night, and she hastily hopped off of the couch and grabbed Bucky by the knee eagerly. 

“I would like that very much.”

“Great stuff, Morgs. I’m glad.”

\--

Bucky had carried Morgan upstairs like a sack of potatoes over his shoulder, and he basked in the giggles and squeals that escaped her as he bounded up the stairs. He made sure that she definitely didn’t need the bathroom again, she insisted on _no,_ but left her in there regardless so he could turn the television off and double-check that all the windows and doors were locked. 

When he came back upstairs, she was tucked under her blanket so that only her eyes and the top of her head were visible. She had left if partially folded away, and Bucky recognised that as an invitation to come into the bed. 

“You left a little entrance for me, very thoughtful,” Bucky murmured, pulling the blanket away so he could get underneath it. Unfortunately, Morgan’s bed wasn’t made for two people, let alone a six-foot-tall grown adult, and he _definitely_ looked as stupid as he felt as he clambered around trying to get under the blanket without ripping it right off of her. 

“You’re causing an earthquake here,” Morgan said.

“Oh, shush. Get a bigger bed.”

“Get a smaller body.”

Bucky, who had managed to get under the small blanket _and_ fully onto the bed without squishing Morgan, looked down at her. She was grinning - it was a maniacal sort of look, as if she was holding in a laugh, and he grinned back.

“You and your Dad are the exact same person, I swear,” he said in complete awe. Morgan stuck out her bottom lip and thought for a moment.

“Everyone says that. They also say ‘what could be better than one Tony?’” Her gaze flitted between both of Bucky’s eyes, expecting an answer out of him.

“Two Tony’s?”

“Correct.” She nodded and rolled over, tucking herself into Bucky’s right side. Her arm rested across his stomach and she grabbed a fist full of his shirt for additional security. His heart swelled.

“Feel tired yet?”

Morgan hummed. He took it as a yes.

With his left hand, he slid his phone out of his pocket, unlocked it, and tapped on his chat with Tony.

**turned all the lights out downstairs. the antichrist and I are upstairs. I thought I was going to combust if she got out of bed one more time, so we made a compromise. if I don’t answer later, u know where I am.**

He sent an eye-roll emoji too and waited for Tony’s response. 

The man was lightning quick, and he got a response in two minutes.

**Gr8 news. I gather that there was no microwaving? That would b even greater news. We’re two speeches in here. 2 too many. Tell the antichrist that her Mom and I said goodnight.**

Bucky clicked on the camera icon and his face popped up on the screen. He grimaced and turned it towards the dark smudge that was Morgan’s hair. He pressed record.

“Morg?” He said softly.

“Hmm.”

“Your Mom and Dad said goodnight.”

“Night Mommy n’ Daddy… love you.” Her words were muffled as she spoke into Bucky’s side, but it was clear enough that it could be heard in the video. He turned the camera to his face and pouted, ending it there and sending it to Tony.

He replied a minute later. 

**You are a gift, Mr Barnes. Thx for tonite. See u in the morning.**

With that, Bucky turned his phone off and put it back into his pocket. He wrapped his left arm over Morgan and closed his eyes.

“Night, Bug.”

“Night, Bucky Bear.”

\--

“Tony, _shut up!_ Morgan is asleep upstairs!” Pepper whispered, albeit loudly, right on the brink of tears from laughing.

“Help me get this mother- _fucking_ lock, then!” Tony rattled the key aggressively inside the keyhole for the front door, and Pepper clutched onto Steve’s arm as she wailed with laughter.

“Tony, you’re gonna- _shit,_ you’re gonna break it, what the hell are you doing?” Steve strained, grasping Tony’s shoulder in desperation, but not quite hard enough to get him to stop destroying their only spare key.

Clearly, the fundraiser had been a success. Tony had given six waffly speeches about saving the world, the fate of Earth and what had to be done to get things running as they had five years prior, and by the fourth, he had consumed far too many gin and tonics, meaning Steve had to step up and take charge. 

Sam, Steve, Natasha, Happy and Pepper watched speeches four through six with hands clasped over their mouths, red in the face from holding in howls of laughter. Much to Happy’s delight, though, there didn’t seem to be a single guest that hadn’t drunk the night away, so he had spent fifteen minutes reassuring a very tipsy Pepper that there wouldn’t be anyone wondering why Tony Stark’s wife and a handful of the Avengers were finding his speeches so hilarious.

Happy escorted them out of the Quinjet he had borrowed from the (new and improved) Avengers Compound and wished them all well as Tony blew kisses at his friend, Pepper shushing him ferociously.

“This is a goddamn _mess_ , yo, I swear y’all weren’t like this when we left the place,” Sam said, bounding up the stairs to the house in Tony’s direction to snatch the key from his hand, “I’d like to get into the house _to-day.”_

Tony whipped his head around to look at his wife, who was still hanging onto Steve’s arm with all the strength she had left in her, and snorted a laugh which he tried his hardest to hold in. “Me oh my, did you see that? He’s takin’ charge, everyone!”

“Tony, this volume is astronomical, c’mon buddy,” Steve snickered, ushering Pepper inside first once Sam unlocked the door. Natasha followed shortly behind her and kicked her heels off onto the rug, rolling her ankles in circles as they cracked loudly.

“Astronomical? What in the hell, Steven,” Tony muttered, shaking his head vigorously and holding his hands up in front of him. Steve’s cheeks blew up as he held in another laugh, and he took Tony by the shoulders to guide him into the house, closing the door and locking it behind him.

Pepper sighed in relief as she too took her heels off, flopping back onto the couch.

“Right, right, okay. Samuel, Nat, Steve, you know where to go. Tony,” she swivelled around on her behind to point at the man, “Morgan duty. I’m not getting up those stairs.” She grasped onto a checkered throw and tossed it over her legs just to solidify her statement. 

Tony opened his mouth wide and breathed out deeply. “Great, yes, Miss Authority. I’ll be on my way. Goodnight, honey,” he kissed his fingers and waved to Pepper, to which she replied to with sticking her tongue out, her eyes already closed.

“Tones, you got those stairs?” Natasha asked softly as Tony wobbled up the first two.

“Yeah yeah, the change in altitude is crazy,” he said. “Sleep well, guys. You know where shit is if you need it.” He waved over his shoulder as he made it up the rest of the way, thankfully without misjudging his step. 

He went straight to Morgan’s room when he got upstairs. A stream of warm orange light from her night-light peaked underneath the door, and Tony pushed it open slightly to stick his head through. When his head stopped spinning, and eyes adjusted to the change in brightness, he glanced over to where Morgan’s bed was and gasped in awe.

Both his daughter and Bucky were curled up underneath the fleece blanket, and the man had her held close to his chest as they breathed softly, slowly. Tony welled up and sniffed as he walked over to them.

He touched the tip of Morgan’s nose lightly, doubting for just one moment if she was real or not (or maybe seeing her so quiet was too disconcerting), and tucked the hair in her face back behind her ear. 

“Wow, you two, don’t use all the cuteness up now,” Tony mumbled, looking at the pair of them with nothing but fondness in his teary eyes. He bent down and kissed Morgan on her temple, and then pressed a kiss to Bucky’s brow.

And when Friday played back the footage the next day when he had woken up, Bucky cried.


End file.
